Hard-toe attachment for shoes



June 5, 1962 J. P. DUFFY 3,037,304

HARD-TOE ATTACHMENT FOR SHOES Filed 001:. 11, 1960 INVENTOR JOHN P DUFFY BY WQ W ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,037,304 HARD-TOE ATTACHMENT FOR SHOES John P. Duffy, Hookersville, W. Va. Filed Oct. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 61,857 1 Claim. (CI. 36-72) This invention relates to a new and improved protective device for attachment to shoes and in particular to a hard-toe attachment which is adjustable in size, toe and sole-engaging, and securely attachable to shoes.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a hardtoe attachment for shoes of industrial workers wherein there is snug engagement between the toe portion and the sole portion of a shoe and the protective device and which may be unyieldingly secured to a shoe and to such a device wherein there is no metallic portion engaging the undersurface of the shoe sole,

As disclosed and claimed in my United States Patent No. 2,927,384, adjustable hard-toe attachments for the shoes of miners and earth-handling workmen are known wherein a portion of the hard-toe attachment is adapted to underlie the sole of the shoe. While such hard-toe attachments are very satisfactory for the earth-handling industries, it has been found that such attachments are not suitable for workers in plants and factories having concrete, steel or composition floors as the underlying metallic flange reduces the frictional engagement between the shoe and the floor. This is particularly pronounced in industrial plants where oil and other friction reducing liquids or dust may be present on the floors.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are provided by the protective device for the toe of a shoe comprising a metallic member formed into a cap portion shaped to cover the toe portion of a shoe, said cap portion including shoe toe-engaging side walls overlapping across the upper portion of the shoe toe to form an adjustable bridge, means securing together said overlapping portions, said shoe toe-engaging side walls being formed integrally with a recurve portion providing a planar marginal section engaging the upper surface of the shoe sole between the upper peripheral edge of the shoe sole and the shoe toe, and an integral web engaging the upper side wall of the shoe sole, and attaching means contacting said planar marginal section and grippingly received in the shoe sole.

The invention will be more fully described with reference to the illustrative embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a shoe with the improved adjustable hard-toe device attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the cap shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section substantially on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a section substantially on line 44 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, the adjustable hard-toe device of the invention includes a cap portion generally designated adapted to slip over the toe portion 14 of a shoe generally designated 16. The protective device is constructed from a single sheet of metal and preferably 24-gauge steel. In forming the hard-toe attachment, the steel plate is slotted from a point 18 to the rearward edge 20 along line 22. The slot line 22 forms a pair of overlapping plates 24 and 24' when the cap portion is shaped to receive the toe 14 of the shoe.

Each of the overlapping plates 24 and 24' are slotted as at 26 to receive a rivet 28 or other fastening device adapted to secure the overlapping plate 24 and 24, one to the other, after the protective device has been sized for the particular shoe.

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The side wall 30 of the protective device is provided adjacent its end with a recurve portion 32. The recurve portion is adapted to snugly fit about the lower marginal edge of the toe portion 34 of the toe 14 of the shoe and then to project outwardly therefrom to provide a planar marginal section 36 which overlies the upper surface of the sole 38 of the shoe 16.

The hard-toe attachment for shoes also includes an integral web 40 which web engages the upper marginal or boundary portion of the peripheral edge 42 of the shoe sole 38. With this form of construction, it will be readily visualized that the protective device for shoes snugly engages all portions of the shoe covered thereby whereby no space remains between the inner surface of the metallic protective device and the outer surface of the shoe toe 14 or the covered upper or marginal portion of the shoe sole 38. This form of construction substantially eliminates the ingress of foreign matter between the protective device and the protected portion of the shoe.

The substantially planar marginal section 36 of the protective device is bored as at 46 which bores are adapted to receive means for rigidly attaching the protective device to the shoe. In the illustrated form of the invention, the attaching means comprises shoe nails 48 having head portions 50. With the shoe nails in the driven position as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the inner surfaces of the heads 56 engage the outer surface of the hard-toe attachment about the bores 46 while the shank portions of the attaching means grip the leather of the sole of the shoe.

In the preferred form of the invention, the attaching means 48 are provided along each side of the hard-toe attachment and adjacent the center thereof to insure that the attachment is securely attached to the shoe.

As hereinbefore described, the hard-toe attachment may be formed from steel such as, for example, 18 to 24- gauge or the device may be constructed of a plastic composition or lamination or, where desired, to have the device constructed of metal and to eliminate sparking, the hard-toe attachment may be constructed of a beryllium copper alloy. Beryllium copper alloys are substantially non-sparking and some of the alloys thereof have tensile strength approaching that of good steels.

I claim:

A protective device for the toe of a shoe comprising a metallic member formed into a cap portion andshaped to cover the toe portion of a shoe, said cap portion including shoe toe-engaging side walls overlapping across the upper portion of the shoe toe to form an adjustable bridge, means securing together said overlapping portions, the lower portion of the cap portion forming side walls of the protective device being formed integrally with a recurve portion, said recurve portion providing a generally horizontally extending planar marginal band, said horizontally extending planar marginal band being of a width to overlie the upper wing surface of the shoe sole between the peripheral edge of the shoe sole and the shoe toe, an integral generally vertically extending web depending from the peripheral outer edge of said generally horizontally extending marginal band, said web snugly engaging the upper side wall of the shoe sole, and attaching means contacting said planar marginal band and grippingly received in the shoe sole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,927,384 Duffy Mar. 8, 1960 

